Artist of the MonthSeptember 2012

Lucy Lyon

Lucy Lyon has been capturing nuances of the human form in glass for decades. Working in cast glass, she has focused on people in urban settings, the figure, and subtle gesture. Most recently her dominant theme is the figure reduced to its most elemental parts. She is represented by Lewallen Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Lucy Lyon

Artist Statement:

My earliest interest in art came during hours of looking at my mother’s art books of Degas, Goya and Thomas Hart Benton, among others. When I was in my early twenties in New York City, I became aware of Edward Hopper’s work. I feel that my work resonates with his. I see my figures as having a sense of being apart, separate, even in the company of other figures. It’s the idea of having private thoughts in public places, and I see that in Hopper’s work.

My pieces come from lingering impressions of how I have seen people interacting, or not interacting.

Much of my work has involved reading or libraries. These are places where one can be in a private space and public simultaneously.

My most recent work involves walls. The walls have given me the opportunity to explore color and blending. I am attracted to simple geometric shapes and use them to define an environment. A wall becomes a place to sit or a place to hide, a column becomes a stool, a metal shelf becomes a library. However, for me, the greatest challenge and greatest satisfaction comes from sculpting the figures. I concentrate on subtle gestures that can tell a story. Putting more than one figure in a piece can make the dynamic very interesting.

About Lucy Lyon

Lucy Lyon was born in 1947 in Colorado. She graduated in 1971 from Antioch College, earning a B.A. in philosophy, and was further educated at Pilchuck Glass School, WA. She has taken a number of workshops across the country from well-known glass artists, and has cited Edward Hopper as a source of inspiration throughout her career.

With a spellbinding combination of technical prowess and spontaneous gesture, Lyon transforms her intimate glass tableaux into atmospheric settings whose characters’ stories, stances, and placement are open to viewer interpretation. Lyon’s subjects are elegantly depicted in postures of contemplation or social engagement, suggesting attitudes of solitude and interaction. The figures themselves effectively express a state of mind through gesture.

Lyon's work was first shown nationally at SOFA Chicago in 1998. Her works have been exhibited in significant public and private institutions and are included in the permanent collections of the Redding Museum of Art and History, Long Beach, CA; the Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM; and the New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM. For the past 22 years she has lived and worked in Jaconita, New Mexico.